Page 75 of I Can't Even

“Yes.” Jessie gazed around the art fair. “I can’t say I’ve missed it.” Then she threw her arm around my shoulders. “I need to borrow Jules for a sec if that’s okay? We have some stuff to talk about.”

As one, my sisters looked at me and I nodded. I had no idea what Jessie was doing here but I was dying to find out.

“All right, we’ll meet up back at the house.” Soph’s tone made it clear I would explain everything later or else.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.

Jess and I walked through the festival, while I kept one eye open for Liam on the off chance he was still around. Per Jessie’s request, I hadn’t talked to Liam about her and if he saw her here without warning, well, I didn’t see a happy reunion coming out of it that was for sure.

“Jessie, I’m thrilled to see you, obviously, but what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’ll explain all when we get back to your house. In the meantime, I have a surprise for you,” she said.

“You do?”

“Yeah, come on.” Jess cut through some booths and led us to a parking lot on the far side of the town green, tucked behind the town hall and the fire station.

She hit the button on a key fob and the doors unlocked on the rented SUV which had its windows half rolled down. Then she hit another button and the back hatch automatically lifted. Inside was a suitcase, a carry on, and two cat carriers. A yowl sounded and my eyes widened. I knew that sound!

“Ah! Spaghetti? Meatball? Is that you?” I rushed forward. Sure enough my furry babies were glaring at me from inside the two plush carriers. I turned back to Jessie and asked, “But how? Why?”

“Well, since I was coming here, I couldn’t watch them for you, and I didn’t want to have a stranger do it, plus, since you can work anywhere and you clearly have a lot going on here, I figured I’d better fly them out with me.”

I rubbed my kitties’ heads through the opening in their carriers. Spag purred and Meat growled. I took that as a good sign that their personalities remained intact.

“Let’s get them home so I can hold them,” I said. “Oh, I’ve missed them and you so much.”

Jessie closed the back hatch and we climbed into the front. It was a short drive up the hill to the house. Once there, we got the kitties inside and gave them lots of attention and some food and water before letting them roam or, in Meatball’s case, sit on the ottoman like a pissed-off blob.

I started a pot of coffee for us, and we sat in the kitchen while it brewed. I took out milk and sugar, knowing how Jessie liked her coffee, and when the pot was done, I brought it to the table.

I poured us each a cup and said, “Okay, I have been more than patient. What’s going on?”

“Dante is going on.” She sounded glum.

“What’s wrong with Dante?” I asked. “You two didn’t break up, did you?”

“Not yet,” she said. “But he told me I either have to woman up and tell my parents about me and us or he will leave me.”

“Oh.” My mouth stayed in the shape of an O for a solid minute before relaxing.

Jessie’s parents had no idea their son was now their daughter. Because they were very conservative and traditional, Jessie had never told them. When she moved to New York, the many miles between them had made it easy for her to hide her gender reassignment so she had.

“Why now?” I asked.

“Because he’s asked me to marry him,” Jessie said. Then she squealed and held out her left hand, which sported a chunky Tiffany Soleste diamond engagement ring.

“Squee!” I cried. For the record, I am not one to make that noise. I grabbed her hand to take in the ring and gently turned it to let the diamond sparkle in the sunlight. I let go and then clapped my hands, bouncing in my chair. I was so excited for her. “Congratulations, this is the best news ever.”

“Except for the minor detail of telling my parents.” Jessie sighed. “He said he won’t marry me until I tell my parents the truth and introduce him to them. He’s flying out here in two days. Jules, I have two days to tell my parents everything or I lose the love of my life.”

“Oh, wow,” I said.

We both stared into our coffee cups. This was big time. Jessie had spent the past nine years carefully cultivating the bogus image of a New York ladies’ man to build up the cred with her very macho father. Her mother was forever begging her to find a nice girl to settle down with so she could have grandchildren. To say they had no clue about Jessie’s transition was putting it mildly.

Her mother had long hoped that Jessie and I would marry, but despite what everyone believed, Jessie and I had never been a couple. Obvi. I alone knew the real reasons she had fled Gull’s Harbor with me all those years ago and even now I was afraid to ask if her situation had changed.

The truth was that Jessie had left Gull’s Harbor because, one, she knew she was really a woman inside a man’s body and that her parents could never accept that and, two, she was desperately in love with her best friend, Liam, my boyfriend! Being near Liam every day and not being with him was killing Jessie so she decided to leave.

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